FALSE GOD, loki laufeyson

━━ chapter eighteen

EIGHTEEN

goodnight darling

There's a humming in the restless summer air
And we're slipping off the course that we prepared
But in all chaos, there is calculation
Dropping glasses just to hear them break

COCYTUS, ACHERON, LETHE, PHLEGETHON, AND STYX. On the banks of the River Styx, Cas tried to stop Loki from bleeding out. Disappearing from Svartalfheim, they arrived in the dark sands and underneath the reddish tint of the underworld ceiling. Her hands as well as his clothes were soaked in blood, as she was desperately trying to keep him clinging to life.

He was fully blue at this point, glossy red eyes looking at her as all of Cas's magic was dappled in desperation. "Talk to me," She sobbed, vivacity dripping from her lips as she desperately tried to keep him hanging on. His hands held onto her wrists and forearms, his lips dry and cold, his magic was gone, and for the first time, she could see into it. Whirring thoughts were loud and Cas realized why her mind was his solace. Words that she didn't understand stung behind her eyes, her mind in shambles with them. Angroboda. My kids. Thanos. Cas didn't say anything about it, not that things like that would be on her mind.

"What do you wish me to speak of, my love?" He asked, his voice weak as his eyes crinkled, a trail of scarlet leaving the side of his mouth and spilling onto the black sands below him. He flinched as Cas worked, her skin searing hot on his cold, almost dead skin.

"Anything, really."Her voice was broken into harsh gasps, trying to grip any air that she could. With her words he tried to smile, muttering words in raspy tones, his words Norse and weak and it hurt Cas inside and out just to hear it.

"I love you," He murmured, lips sticking together, dry with blood. His breathing wasn't steady, he was still bleeding out and Cas was getting desperate. Her hands weren't shaking, adrenaline and goldy blood sparked with fervor and despair and just the ultimate need to keep him alive. Tears blocked her vision as she tried her hardest to keep him from the fates, from dying in someone else's underworld, from leaving her, from bleeding out on the Styx in a fucked up way of symbolism.

She had to keep him alive. At all costs. No matter what happened.

"Hold on for me, please." He nods slightly, his eyes flutter closed, and a fleck of Styx hits Cas's arm. She winces at the slight burn, and the pink mark on her skin fades almost instantly, not that she's watching it, her attention is on Loki, his blue skin, and his pain. The heat of his blood on her skin is slowly fading.

Deep black mixed with red when her hands tremble. Her blade cast aside after a cut down her arm gives headway for the blood to slow and her hands to work on tissues and skin, her breathing steadying. She heard the sound of ichor mixing with that of the frost giant blood, but Cas doesn't care, he was alive and his status isn't nearly as dire. Between them, the air stills, and Cas is waiting for moments far too long for him to wake up. Maybe she's lost him completely, and she never got to really say goodbye, and that thought makes her lips fall in a sob.

Stardust and mischief, trapped away, galaxies, notions, and thoughts apart, barely there. She bit her lip to mask the pain, and she let go of his skin. It was cold, a different cold than it was before, but once someone dies there's no turning back. Her hand goes up to his chest, and his heartbeat is still there, and her breathing slows. He wasn't dead.

His breath is a relief to her, and she pulls him close once his consciousness is fully regained, not too tight, nerves of his pain lingering close in her mind. But relief is the first thing she felt before deciding that the pained look in Loki's eyes was a sign that they needed to get out of there.

Earth was a vast difference from the underworld, and exhaustion hit quickly, magic and power fading fast. They were stabilizing each other at this point, Cas noticing wounds that she didn't previously address because of Loki's dire situation, but before long, they were in her room, and soon enough, things were fixed, and they were both asleep.

❛ ━━━━━━･❪ ✷ ❫ ･━━━━━━ ❜

DEATH MADE THINGS BLURRY. THAT was something Cas noted as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, Loki draped across her armchair, picking at the dried blood on his hands. She smiled gently before walking to him, his eyes following her as she leaned to kiss him and check his wounds.

"Go shower, then we'll talk okay?" He nodded, exhaustion pooling at his feet as he trudged to the bathroom. Cas had showered the prior night before changing and passing out, but Loki had slept in blood-soaked clothes and skin. He used his seðir to remove a lot of the blood, and Cas was relieved with the lack of cleaning she had to do. Long, absent-minded moments passed before Loki came out, his hair and skin dewy as he pulled her close, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"I had an idea," She said, looking up at him, her arms curled against his chest. He looked at her expectantly, eyebrows raised.

"I'm intrigued, my love." His lips held a smile, shrouding something that Cas couldn't quite tell what it was. She didn't mind, he was in her arms and not dead or still bleeding out on the banks of the Styx.

"What if you became king, under the guise of your father? He's too old and frail to rule anyway," She was half-joking about the last part, but it made Loki's eyes flicker with excitement for fleeting seconds.

"I love that," He hummed. "I'll send him off to Midgard. But for now, what if we just stay here all day?" Cas nodded, pressing her hand to his forehead with a gentle smile.

"Alright, if you insist," Cas hummed, rolling her eyes at him, and moving from his arms, crawling back into bed with near-lidded eyes and a soft smile. Exhaustion was still there, and of course, he was right behind her, pulling her close with a small contented smile.

❛ ━━━━━━･❪ ✷ ❫ ･━━━━━━ ❜